Review: Smut (a romantic comedy) by Karina Halle

What happens when the kink between the pages leads to heat between the sheets?

All Blake Crawford wants is to pass his creative writing course, get his university degree, and take over his dad’s ailing family business. What Amanda Newland wants is to graduate at the top of her class, as well as finally finish her novel and prove to her family that writing is a respectful career.

What Blake and Amanda don’t want is to be paired up with each other for their final project, but that’s exactly what they both get when they’re forced to collaborate on a writing piece. Since Amanda thinks Blake is a pushy asshole (with a panty-melting smirk and British accent) and Blake thinks Amanda has a stick up her ass (though it’s a brilliant ass), they fight tooth and nail until they discover they write well together. They also may find each other really attractive, but that’s neither here nor there.

When their writing project turns out to be a success, the two of them decide to start up a secret partnership using a pen name, infiltrating the self-publishing market in the lucrative genre of erotica. Naturally, with so much heat and passion between the pages, it’s not long before their dirty words become a dirty reality. Sure, they still fight a lot, but at least there’s make-up sex now.

But even as they start to fall hard for each other, will their burgeoning relationship survive if their scandalous secret is exposed? Or are happily-ever-afters just a work of fiction?

I received this book for free from the publisher in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.

My Review:

Smut is an enemies-to-lovers romance that pulls back the curtain on the self-publishing industry and takes us along for the hilarious ride. It is light and fun and would make the perfect beach read. While this is classified as a ‘romantic comedy’, this isn’t slapstick humor, it’s nuanced humor and nerdy humor and sometimes, just plain ol’ laugh out loud humor. Side note: prepare to embrace your inner nerd and let your freak flag fly while reading–the characters are that quirky and adorkable.

Amanda has just ended a long-term relationship, while Blake is working his way through most of the female population in town. They have a college writing class together and their meet-cute is more like a hate-cute. When Amanda and Blake are partnered together for an assignment, all of that animosity comes in handy and they kick ass at the final project.

After they finish school, Blake needs money and he gets the idea to publish an erotic novel and needs Amanda’s female perspective to make it work. Writing about smut and not acting it out proves to be too much for the duo and the fireworks start to fly.

Throughout the book, Blake and Amanda give really good banter. Blake has the sexy Brit angle working for him, and Amanda is spunky and sassy with a hint of vulnerability. She’s also a closet dork, a trait I identified with for sure. (FYI: ‘shippers of Dex and Perry will definitely like the relationship between Amanda and Blake, as it is very reminiscent of the Experiment in Terror series.)

Amanda’s roommate stole the show several times, as did Blake’s brother, so I definitely enjoyed the supporting characters, too. I think the epilogue is great and it ties everything up with a pretty bow. Overall, I enjoyed reading Smut and recommend it to anyone looking for a light and laughable read.

About Karina Halle

Karina Halle is a former travel writer and music journalist and The New York Times, Wall Street Journal and USA Today Bestselling author of The Pact, Racing the Sun, Sins & Needles and over 25 other wild and romantic reads. She lives on an island off the coast of British Columbia with her husband and her rescue pup, where she drinks a lot of wine, hikes a lot of trails and devours a lot of books.

Halle is represented by the Waxman Leavell Agency and is both self-published and published by Simon & Schuster and Hachette in North America and in the UK.

Hit her up on Instagram at @authorHalle, on Twitter at @MetalBlonde and on Facebook. You can also visit www.authorkarinahalle.com and sign up for the newsletter for news, excerpts, previews, private book signing sales and more.